Astros notes: Bourn makes highlight-reel catch

Quintero's surge forces changes in batteries

Published 5:00 am, Friday, June 12, 2009

Catch of the day

Michael Bourn made one of the Astros’ most sensational catches of the season Thursday with a run up the steep incline in center field at Minute Maid Park to rob the Cubs’ Micah Hoffpauir of a hit leading off the seventh inning.

As soon as Hoffpauir drove the ball to deep center, the speedy Bourn sprinted toward the incline, turned to track the ball and then had enough body control to make the catch after falling while backpedaling up Tal’s Hill.

“I practice going up the hill a little bit,” Bourn said after the Astros’ 2-1 victory in 13 innings. “It’s so hard to (duplicate) even off the fungo (bat) because the ball is hit 50 more feet back into the infield than it is off the fungo. This is a little bit harder. When you’re practicing, I’m already playing too deep, so I can run up the hill and just make the catch. But in that instance you just have to go on instinct.”

Bourn’s catch was more impressive considering he tumbled backward and temporarily lost the ball.

“I never lost the flight of the ball,” he said. “I lost the sight of it at the end, but I kind of knew where it was at. … The sight of it I lost it at the end, but I kind of knew where it was going to land at. I just put my glove up to where it was going to be at and I caught it.”

With one of the worst records in baseball and a steep drop in attendance this season, the Astros announced a “Kids Free All Summer” campaign, which wasn’t available while the always-popular Chicago Cubs were in town.

From June 23 through Aug. 23, fans purchasing a full-price ticket in the Mezzanine, View Deck 1 or View Deck 2 levels will receive two free tickets for children 14 and under.

“The economy still is struggling and school is just over for everyone,” Astros owner Drayton McLane said. “And with all the young people here, the Astros are going to do something they’ve never, ever done. ”

Working it out

With Humberto Quintero blossoming, the Roy Oswalt-Ivan Rodriguez battery is the only one set now. Originally, Rodriguez was catching Oswalt and Wandy Rodriguez, but Wandy Rodriguez got back on track with Quintero catching him for the first time this season Wednesday.

“They worked good,” Cecil Cooper said of Wandy Rodriguez and Quintero. “It was pretty obvious. Wandy only gave up one run.”

Rodriguez had lost three in a row before he was paired with Quintero.

“He’s doing a good job,” Cooper said of Quintero. “That’s the only way I can explain it to you. He’s catching and he’s doing a good job.”

Cooper has said he might stick with Quintero and Wandy Rodriguez for at least another start, but only one pairing is secure.